


The Day She Came to Me

by ZafiraMente



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/M, Translation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:33:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27632792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZafiraMente/pseuds/ZafiraMente
Summary: This is a translation of "El día que llegaste a mí" by HelenMartinelli on ffdn.Sesshomaru has always been a cold and calculating young man, resentful of the world and his family. His detachment has isolated him into a world of his own, but what will happen when a sweet girl with chocolate eyes and her own struggles crosses his path? Will he retreat back into himself? AU
Relationships: Rin/Sesshoumaru (InuYasha)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	1. Introduction

**Long-ass introduction**

tl:dnr version: this is a translation, originally by HelenMartinelli and this is my first time translating a work. Constructive criticism very welcome on the translation. If you have any interest in how translation happens, read on :)

* * *

First, I will just note: this is not my story. This is not my plot nor my characterization. It will likely be in my writing style to an extent, but this is someone else's work. You can find the original on [FFDN "El día que llegaste a mí"](http://fanfiction.net/s/12839219/1/El-d%C3%ADa-que-llegaste-a-m%C3%AD) by [HelenMartinelli](http://www.fanfiction.net/u/6132593/HelenMartinelli)  


This is a translation. I speak Spanish and have been recently interested in trying my hand at translation of fics for practice. I'm going to give a lot of information about language translation and principles of such, just because before I went into medicine, I got a degree in this stuff. This is actually my first time trying to translate literature which is why I want to write a more formal introduction.

This particular story I'm starting with is interesting because it's not the type of story I typically write, but because it is set in an AU, it's a little easier maybe for me to get the right "feel". When I was reading it, I was entertaining myself by figuring out the changes that would be made because of idiomatic phrases and colloquialisms, plus the differences in grammar and punctuation. So I thought "hey, let's do it!" I asked the author, and she gave me her permission, YAY! Other funny thing, she inherited this story from another author, so technically, this will be the third author for the story.

As an FYI because again I studied this shit and am being prissy about it, translating is done via written word, interpreting is done via spoken word. They are similar, but very different skills. My original focus had been on interpretation, hence why I have no experience translating. Of course it gets muddled when you're mixing media, but in general, that's what it is.

Why am I translating someone else's story, instead of one of my own? Well, it's one of those weird things. It can sometimes be harder to translate your own because of your own emotional investment in the original LOL Plus, for me, it is easier for me to go from Spanish to English than vice versa because I don't get to practice my Spanish enough so my receptive language skills are better than my expressive. And, it's hard to know colloquialisms for all different places. I can easily recognize them, but it's harder to come up with them, for a lot of reasons.

My focus was on Castilian Spanish, or "Spain Spanish", and so my automatic default is their swear words and colloquialisms, but it's also been 20 years since I lived there, so I forget shit ;) These days when I speak Spanish, it's usually with Central and South American Spanish-speakers. So, I have this weird mixture of countries when I'm trying to figure out how I want to swear ;)

I also have difficulty in writing literary grammar for Spanish, because again, I have never done it before. There are some things I've noticed in quite a few Spanish language stories and it's been long enough since I read a book that was originally in Spanish or been in a class, I can't remember whether some things are just characteristic of Spanish writing or styles of the authors themselves.

When someone translates a book, they are essentially re-writing the entire thing. Transliteration is what google translate does, and we all know how well that works. Not only do you have to translate the words themselves, you have to translate the culture/style a bit. For example, in Inuyasha, if you are reading the subtitles vs listening to the Japanese, they will often say a character's name in the translation, when it wasn't originally said in the show, because they don't use names the same way. Or they will change the name order, because we do firstname lastname.

One of the things I noticed was much less frequent use of names, and a lot more pronouns, to the point where to me, as a native English-speaker, it's difficult to follow. So I changed quite a few hes, shes and theys to a clearer descriptor. Again, in Japanese, I've noticed people calling their sister or bother by their title frequently, but that is _not_ common in English, we usually refer to our siblings by name once we've established they're our sibling. Inuyasha doesn't do great at this, because there's a lot of conversations with Kohaku/Sango where they call them sister/brother, but it sounds awkward and what they really should have done is sub out the name.

This original story had what would be considered run-on sentences, if they were transliterated directly to English, so I had to make new sentence structure frequently. I can't remember enough about creative writing rules in Spanish to remember if they would be considered run-on natively – though it didn't strike me as difficult to read when I was doing it in Spanish.

There're a very few times when I found something that was overly repetitive or contradictory. The first might be a cultural/language thing, or it might be an author thing. The contradictory thing, I tried to fix as best I could because I figured I'm re-writing so much anyway LOL None of it changes any particular part of the story truly, but it just changes how things are worded, obviously.

So, I would really appreciate it if especially Spanish speakers can read the original and compare it to my translation and give me constructive criticism. Pick it apart as much as you want. :) I appreciate it because this is learning experience for me. The plot and characterization doesn't belong to me, so any complaints about that outside a translational issue, well, that isn't under my control :D I'm just the pen, someone else is doing the writing.

Thank you if you've read this treatise on translation and why/how I'm doing it. I appreciate your patience. At this point, the story is up to 10 chapters, and beyond that, I have no control. It was perhaps a little ambitious to pick not only a multi-chapter story, but one that is not done, but the heart wants what it wants LOL

Please leave feedback, I would appreciate it, and of course, thanks to HelenMartinelli for writing the original piece.


	2. Meeting

Sesshoumaru watched the bustling of the house from his position on one of the mansion's sofas. He had been trying to read, blocking out the world as he normally would when alone. But the more he tried, the more he realized it was impossible because his stepmother was expecting guests and she wanted everything to be perfect.

He closed his book and watched Myoga, the family butler, who made sure that everything was as his mistress ordered, and his bad mood only growing. He did not understand why everyone was making such a big deal out of the Higurashi's orphan kid coming over.

The Higurashis lived in the temple near the mansion, but they were only the help, at least until his damn half-brother became friends with their oldest girl. Before he knew it, the whole Higurashi family was welcomed as guests. His stepmother was thrilled to have people around that were as pathetic as she was.

At thirteen, Sesshoumaru hated his stepmother. He had always seen her as low-class: annoying, intrusive, and basically only ever tried to be nice to him to look good to his dad. His mother had told him all about it, and everything else he needed to know about Izayoi. It was _her_ fault he had been separated from his _real_ mother when he was only three. _She_ stole his dad and then got pregnant with a damn bastard and suddenly moved in. So he knew the truth. Izayoi was a homewrecker that had taken advantage of his father and took over his mom's life. A worthless, gold-digging bitch.

He shifted his anger from her to his father, because his father had agreed that some scruffy freaking orphan and her damn grandmother, Kaede, could move in. They're apparently Higurashis too, and because his half-brother was slumming it, his stepmother had overheard the sob story about how there had been an accident, and her parents and brothers died. That left Kaede to raise her and now they were going to lose their house because there had been no life insurance. The Higurashis had asked if the grandmother could perhaps have a job. So his stepmother, playing Mother Theresa in front of his father, had not only hired her to work in the house, she asked his father if they could move in.

His stepmother wanted to invite complete strangers into their home, out of sympathy for a family that was 'the help'. It was, in a word: insane. The worst part was that his father had agreed. Sesshomaru was sure that eventually all the Higurashis in the country would end up living in his damn house.

"Sesshomaru, you're not wearing the outfit I picked out?" Izayoi said, smiling brightly. The silver-haired boy watched the woman as she tried to get his 10-year-old half-brother to stay put to fix his perpetually messy hair.

Izayoi was a middle-aged woman, with long black hair. The press called her 'a true Japanese beauty'. Inu no Taisho met her at work and then fallen in love with her because of her warmth and smile, according to him. A Taisho in love with a simple secretary, how shameful.

"No," he replied flatly.

The woman gave him a disappointed look as her smile faded. She thought she had chosen well, something similar to what he would normally wear for going out. She had just then dressed her son, Inuyasha, the same way to match. Of course, the younger boy hated his brother's style, the youngest Taisho was much more grubby usually. "Why not? Didn't you like it?" She asked again, approaching him.

"I'm not celebrating the arrival of some stupid pity case and her damn grandmother."

"Sesshomaru!" she said, horrified. "Don't say such things! You have to be more polite and respectful."

"Like you're one to talk."

The boy got up and took his book, leaving a stunned Izayoi in the room and a very angry Inuyasha from the lack of respect directed towards his mother. Inuyasha kept his mouth shut, a little for his brother's sake, but mostly so he wouldn't upset his mother, because she had to put up with enough without dealing with that disrespectful douche. He did not want to cause her more stress.

The doorbell rang, pulling all of them out of their thoughts and Izayoi's bright smile returned. Her husband was away on a business trip, but she and her handsome son Inuyasha would be there to receive that adorable little girl and her grandmother. She just wished she could do something about Sesshomaru's attitude. She had wanted to be a mother to him, after his mother abandoned him. His mother hadn't even tried to obtain custody instead of her husband. It was like she had given him away and had no interest in caring for the little boy.

Irasue was Sesshomaru's mother. A busy woman who, when it came to work/life balance, she always chose work. Despite the fact she hadn't even wanted custody of her son, she had the mendacity to poison the boy's mind against Izayoi and "her class", though in fact, Izayoi's heart hurt for Sesshomaru. Although she and Inu loved him just as much as they loved Inuyasha, Sesshomaru couldn't accept it, making him an increasingly quiet and cold boy, nigh sullen.

She watched as Inuyasha ran to meet his little friend the moment he saw her and smiled. Inuyasha didn't have many friends and the chance meeting between the Higurashi girl had really brought him out of his shell. The truth was that she was afraid that would become as withdrawn as his brother. That is, until he found Kagome.

"What's wrong?" Inuyasha asked his little friend, seeing her sad face. "Did you get in trouble or somethin'?"

"No, that's not it, it's because…"

Kagome turned, motioning with her head to the little girl who was hiding in the skirts of a grey-haired woman with tired eyes. She couldn't have been more than nine, with huge chocolate-colored eyes and unruly black hair.

"Hi, I'm Inuyasha, what's your name?" He waited patiently for the girl to answer, but not a whisper was heard. Inuyasha looked Kagome, wondering why the other girl didn't answer, but she just shrugged.

After Izayoi finished greeting Kagome's mother and grandfather, she introduced herself to the tired-eyed lady the girl was hiding behind and tried again to elicit a response from the girl. She had as much luck as Inuyasha had, still not a peep.

"It's fine, she's still in shock from the accident and hasn't spoken a word since her family died," Kaede said. "Her name is Rin."

Izayoi made eye contact and gave her a big smile, which drove the girl even further behind her grandmother's legs. "Rin, you don't have to be scared of me. My name is Izayoi, would you like to have a hot chocolate?"

The girl nodded from her refuge behind her grandmother's skirts but did not make any motion to move. So, Izayoi led the whole Higurashi family to the kitchen so she could make a snack for the kids. She really wanted that poor girl to not be so scared and feel more comfortable in the house. The tranquil environment she had tried to create though was abruptly ruined, as a huge white dog came out of nowhere, causing the little girl to bolt, disappearing before their eyes.

They caught the dog and realized Rin was nowhere in the kitchen. Everyone looked for her, worried she might have gotten outside or lost within the large house. Hopefully, she had not gotten far.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sesshomaru was leaning against a tree trunk in a small copse near the house outside, still reading. No one would bother him out there, it was blissfully quiet, and no nagging stepmother. He had found the perfect hidey hole where Izayoi rarely went. She was a fan of cultivated gardens, so the small free-growing grove on the property had never really been noticed by her.

He heard footsteps and rapid breathing and wondered if one of the servants was looking for him, or maybe his half-brother. He really didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment.

Bushes near him started rustling and he watched as a dirty nine-year-old girl with wild black hair and big brown eyes broke through, stopping abruptly when she saw him. The girl seemed shocked to see him, but he gave her a cursory glance and then quickly lost interest. He was sure it was that orphan brat his father had taken in and had decided to not speak to her while she was living in his house, so he returned his attention to his book. He could see that she was even more declassee than he expected.

Rhe was still for a while, looking at him with curiosity. He was a very handsome young man, with long silver hair and large, unconventional golden eyes. His skin was white as snow and as he read, he looked like an angel. Rin remembered that her mother told her about something called an angel. According to her mother they were beautiful beings, with superhuman powers and a glowing aura, and that's what this boy seemed to have. He seemed to almost glow as if he were a beautiful ethereal being from another world, so different from the hell she had been thrust into since losing her parents and brothers.

She sat down a couple feet from him to just observe him carefully, even forgetting that she had been fleeing from that terrifying dog. All she seemed able to do in the moment was stare intently.

"Are you going to spend all day there staring at me?" Seshomaru asked. He gave her a look that would have scared the bejebus out of his brother. He used it whenever Inuyasha annoyed him or he just wanted to get rid of him in general. The girl only minutely flinched, mostly her expression was just of amazement and admiration.

Sesshomaru was starting to think the girl was a little soft in the head. If she wouldn't leave, he would just ignore her, figuring she would get bored and leave. But she didn't. He didn't know exactly how long it had been, but it seemed like forever and he couldn't stand it any longer. She just wouldn't stop, and he couldn't concentrate on his book with her staring.

"Get lost. I don't like you staring at me," he said rather aggressively.

Rin heard the distant sound of the dog barking again though. It was a monster of a dog with huge fangs in her mind, so she jumped closer to Sesshomaru and grabbed his arm.

"I told you to leave!" Sesshomaru looked at the nine-year-old girl clinging to his arm, stuck like glue and then he heard the barking of that damn dog that they had bought for his brother a few years ago. He couldn't stand that dog; it was just as spoiled as Inuyasha or even worse. He got up with the girl latched to the sleeve of his long-sleeved shirt. He couldn't get rid of her while she was like this, so he decided that if it was that damn dog that scared her, he would show her that that dog was all bark and no bite. Maybe then she would leave him alone.

He left his hiding place with the girl still pulling on his sleeve, noting how she trembled as the dog ran over to them.

"Sit! Stay!" he said to the dog, using the same look that had failed to intimidate the girl moments before.

The dog sat, wagging his tail. Sesshomaru walked over, trying peel a hand off his sleeve. He took her hand, guiding it over to the dog's head to make her touch it, feeling her trembling fade as he did so. Rin looked at the wagging, smiling dog as she gently pet it, and then gave Sesshomaru an ear to ear grin, surprising him.

"What are you so happy about? It's not like I saved you from a pack of wolves or something," he muttered.

She stopped petting the dog and turned to hug him, her face still smiling brightly. They were quite the contrast, with him being tall for his age and her being short for hers. Rin was very weird, he thought. Well, she was at least the weirdest kid he'd ever met.

* * *

Sesshomaru never suspected that there were witnesses to such a tender, yet odd scene. Izayoi and Kaede, who had gone out looking for Rin in the garden when they didn't find her anywhere in the house, had been quite surprised to see them, though for different reasons. Kaede was surprised because she hadn't seen Rin smile like that since she lost her family, and Izayoi because Sesshomaru had helped the girl and wasn't complaining about her hugging him.

She hadn't ever really seen Sesshomaru accept a show of affection from anyone willingly, not even his father. When Inuyasha was younger, he had tried hugging his brother frequently, but Sesshomaru always just yelled and pushed him away, hard. But this time, there was no screaming or yelling, no shoving at all. He just stared at her silently as if trying to solve a particularly difficult math problem.

She smiled. She was sure if she told Inu what she had just seen, he would never believe her. And although he was standing stock-still while she hugged him, he hadn't told her to stop or tried to stop her physically. He just let himself be hugged by her.

Izayoi thought that perhaps Rin coming to live with them was the best thing that could happen for her stepson. Maybe now he could start expressing that kinder, more human side of himself that she knew he had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original author's note introduced herself and that she had adopted this story from someone with the username AnnaDJenner. She had re-written the narrative parts, but kept the dialogue, just making it into her own style a bit.
> 
> For the chapters that Anna originally wrote, she said she planned to upload 1/week, and the original additions that Anna had no part in are planned every two weeks, because she has other stories she's working on.


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